The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

CAMPUS
The time has come to say goodbye…
Tribune News Service

It was a nostalgic moment when the batch of Fall-Winter 2001-2003 from the Indian Institute of Planning And Management (IIPM) was given a fond farewell at The Floats, The Park Royal, on a glorious April evening. These future entrepreneurs, who have already been selected by companies like PwC, Coke J.M. Morgan Stanley, Prudential ICICI, GE, Standard Chartered, Asian Paints, ITC and many more, have more than the obvious reason to rejoice. Having spent the last two years mastering the art of talking corporate, walking corporate and dressing corporate, these students and future Fortune 500 managers, left all their management funds home to tango to the tune of the night. Once again, the amiable student-faculty relationship broke the confines of the classroom to enjoy the best IIPM hospitality. Said Prof Arindam Chaudhuri, Dean, Centre for Economic Research and Advanced Studies and IIPM, on the occasion, “…As I watch my students joining the world’s leading companies, I am overwhelmed with joy and anticipation to find them ready to climb to the top of the corporate ladder like their alumni have done in the past. But at the same time I feel sad to see them go…”

Echoing the sentiment, Dr M.K. Chaudhuri, Founder Director, IIPM, added, “It pleases me no end to watch the healthy competition among IIPM students, not just within the classrooms, but also while competing with each other for getting placed in the top companies that come for IIPM’s campus placements….”

Adding sparkle to the already glamorous night was Shibani Kashyap, the anchor for the night, who kept the party in good spirits with her impromptu one-liners. But it was not fun and frolic alone. A prize distribution ceremony was also held to honour those who had excelled in various field like Economics, Executive Communication, Quantitative Techniques etc. Another reminder of the fact that the institute’s students have been consistently placed in multinationals like A.T Kearney, American Express, PepsiCo, Citibank, Standard Chartered, Coke, PriceWatherhouseCoopers, Asian Paints, Prudential ICICI, LG, Electrolux etc. Quite an achievement!

The chief guest for the occasion was Prof A K Sengupta, former Director, IIFT, New Delhi. Speaking to a full house, he said, “I have a long association with this institute. Having 100 per cent placements for the sixth consecutive year has given me a lot of pride to be associated with it. This feeling is tremendous….

London Metropolitan University launched

Host Geetika Ganjoo at the launch of London Metropolitan University.

Delhi’s most eminent educators recently gathered at Shahjahan Hall, Hotel Taj Palace, to celebrate the launch of London Metropolitan University that has been formed by the merger of two of the UK’s most reputed universities, the University of North London and London Guildhall University.

Decorated in the university’s corporate colour, purple, the whole venue looked like a page out of a fairytale book. More than 200 persons, including principals, teachers and social workers, from Delhi’s leading schools and colleges had assembled at the venue to witness a new era in education provision for India’s most promising students.

The august gathering was also graced by British Deputy High Commissioner Mark Runacres and Jacqui Alln from the British Council in Delhi. They were also joined by university staff, who had flown in specially from London to attend the event: Ms Adrienne Clarke, Head of Asian Development, and Mr Robert Hawker, Marketing Communications Manager.

The opening address was made by Mr Raman Sharma, Director of the university’s Indian liaison office in Delhi, who revealed that London Metropolitan University had been formed to widen the subject range, enhance flexibility and provide increased opportunities for staff and students. Guests were also informed that the university’s liaison office in Delhi meant it did not operate through any mediators or agents. Courses can be studied at many levels, including undergraduate, postgraduate, further education, short courses and professional and institute qualifications. The revelation that the liaison office would guide students through the visa process and help them find accommodation and part-time work in London and, importantly, placements drew a big round of applause from the gathering.

Balanced development

Maintaining equilibrium between development activities and environment is the need of the hour. Second-rate treatment to nature could prove disastrous for the human race. Indian and all other developing countries will have to programme their development endeavours in a systematic way. This observation was made by Ms Jayawanti Mehta, Union Minister of State for Power, while inaugurating a national seminar on Asian Regional Research Programme in Energy, Environment and Climate.

Earlier, speaking on the occasion, Mr H.L Bajaj, Chairman, Central Electricity Authority (CEA), mentioned that over one lakh species of flora and fauna had disappeared due to the greenhouse gas emissions. Mr Bajaj stated it was the prime duty of all human beings to give something to Mother Earth for the sake of coming generations.

The seminar was organised by the Central Electricity Authority in association with the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok. The Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) has been funding regional research projects for mitigation of environmental pollution and greenhouse gas emission. The seminar was organised for dissemination of findings of the studies undertaken in power, biomass, urban transports and small and medium industries sector in selected Asian countries.

Seminar on role of print media

Ms Jayawanti Mehta, Union Minister of State for Power, addressing the delegates at a seminar on Asian Regional Research Programme in Energy, Environment and Climate.

Experts attending a seminar on the role of print media here stressed that both print and electronic media had a major role in today’s life. Former diplomat B.P Aggarwal, speaking at the seminar organised by the Asian Academy of Film and Television (AAFT) at Marwah Studios, said most of the people after watching news on television still picked up a newspaper to get the full news. Another eminent diplomat, Mr Ramesh Shukla, speaking on the occasion said the electronic media was like fast food and print media was traditional food. Both had come to stay in our life. Others who spoke on the occasion included eminent cartoonist Irfaan, Mr P.S. Narula, a non-resident Indian, and Mr Sandeep Marwah, Director, Aisan Academy of Film and Television.

WHO award for AIIMS professor

A professor at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has been chosen by the World Health Organisation for an award in view of his contributions to global tobacco control.

The Director-General of WHO, Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, would present the award to Prof K Srinath Reddy of the Department of Cardiology at the World Health Assembly on May 21.

Dr Reddy, who was nominated for the award from the South-East Asian region of WHO, was a member of the Indian delegation to the international negotiations on the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

India’s role in uniting the developing countries to successfully pursue the adoption of a strong FCTC, which effectively addresses global concerns, has been widely acclaimed by the international community.

Dr Reddy is also a member of the WHO’s scientific advisory committee on Tobacco Product Regulation. Queen Rania El Abdullah of Jordan, Foreign Minister of Brazil H E Celso Luiz Nunes Amorim, European Union

Commissioner David Byrne, Dr Caleb Otto of Palau, Pacific Islands Nations Confederation and Bontle Mbongwe are the other winners of the prestigious award.

Colombia has 8 Aptech centres

Aptech Worldwide has in approximately two years of operations attained the widest geographical presence in Colombia. Aptech currently has eight centres in seven cities, Bogota, Plaza, Bulevarniza, Cali, Baranquilla, Manizales, and Medellin.

On the occasion of the inauguration of the first Aptech centre in Colombia, the President of the country applauded this initiative and hoped that it would offer world-class IT education to its students. Aptech is among the largest training centres in Colombia today and has eight state-of-the-art Aptech centres where innumerable students have taken the opportunity to IT-enable themselves.

Aptech had received approval from the Colombian Government to take part in the Connectivity Agenda Programme under which over 5,000 Colombians would be trained in the latest IT technologies to spearhead the IT revolution in the region. This is a major landmark in its operations in this country.

Mr Pramod Khera, CEO & Managing Director, Aptech, said, “It is a matter of pride that Aptech’s efforts have been lauded by the Colombian Government. As a world-class organisation, we are continuously engaged in R & D to further improve the quality of education offered to students. We have, therefore, pioneered the blended learning teaching methodology that moves forward from only classroom-based learning to incorporate instructor-led teaching, CBT & WBT. This methodology marks a new chapter in teaching and has been much appreciated.”

NIIT training for Win’03 software

NIIT has launched a training programme on the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 software. The specially created programme will address the demand for Windows Server 2003 skills. NIIT aims to train more than 5,000 IT professionals and over 10,000 students in the next few months.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Rajendra Pawar, Chairman, NIIT said, “By coinciding the launch of Win ‘03 training with the worldwide launch of software we are keeping our tradition to offer training on the freshest technologies first.”

“Our association with Microsoft over the years has helped us understand Microsoft technologies and platforms better. This in turn has enabled us to develop the right training solutions and skilled manpower on a real time basis,” added Mr Pawar.

NIIT’s new introductory program for Windows 2003 Server is an eight-hour programme, including four hours of interactive classroom learning, covering key concepts and features and using a case study approach. The balance time will be spent in a convenient e-learning mode using NIIT’s digital content and services from Netvarsity.com.

Cracking the Civil Services Exam
As a proof of its unmatched teaching quality and foolproof methods in cracking the Civil Services Examination, the Chanakya IAS Academy has a huge list of winners from its current batch of students. In the results for Civil Services Examination 2002 declared on April 30, Ankur Garg, Chanakya Academy’s Foundation Course student, topped the list of 286 successful candidates. Moreover, 38 out of the top 100 successful candidates had one thing in common-they all went to the academy to take the IAS tutorials. Mayank Joshi (rank 4) Amrita Soni (rank 17), Pooja Kulkarni (rank22), Sanjay Goyal (rank 24), anu Gorge (rank 25), Joshi Ajit Balaji (rank 29) and Ritu Sani (rank 31) are all Chanakya students.

Ankur Garg, an alumnus of Delhi’s Indian Institute of Technology, was a student of Chanakya Academy’s South Delhi branch located at Vasant Vihar. This branch has been opened with all modern amenities and the best faculty to cater to the needs of the students of the premier institutes like the IIT, JNU as well as other outstation students coming from different parts of the country to stay and study in this area.
The academy has another branch at Mukherjee Nagar, near Delhi University. In addition to these, the academy has its branches at Ahmedabad and Ranchi. The academy plans to open seven other branches in different parts of the country in the near future.
Says Mr A.K Mishra, Director, Chanakya IAS Academy, “Every year, we have had superb results in the Civil Services Examination. This year, we have not only improved on the previous results but it is extremely gratifying that the overall topper is from our institute. This is a true vindication of our courses’ quality and efficacy.”